Rock the Nation: Muchmusic, Cultural Policy, and the Development of English Canadian Music Video Programming, 1979-19841
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Rock the Nation: MuchMusic, Cultural Policy, and the Development of English Canadian Music Video Programming, 1979-19841 Ira Wagman McGill University Abstract: This paper focuses on the various interrelationships between the Cana- dian sound recording industry, broadcasting community, cultural-policy practi- tioners, and the CRTC, which influenced the application process for MuchMusic (Canada’s national music video service) between 1979 and the station’s debut in 1984. These dates are significant as they witness the intersection of a sound recording industry seeking reinvigoration and additional government support; a broadcast regulator seeking television applicants of solid financial grounding; and a cultural-policy strategy oriented toward improving the marketing and dis- tribution of Canadian cultural products. Each of these elements converge on one point of general assent: that Canada “needed” a national music video broad- caster. Résumé : Cet article porte sur les rapports divers entre l’industrie canadienne de l’enregistrement sonore, la communauté de radiodiffuseurs, les praticiens de politiques culturelles et le CRTC concernant la demande d’application de Much- Music (service canadien de vidéos musique) entre 1979 et la mise en ondes de la station en 1984. Ces dates sont importantes car elles marquent l’intersection d’une industrie de l’enregistrement sonore cherchant à se renouveler et à se faire appuyer davantage par le gouvernement, d’un organisme de réglementation de la radiodiffusion cherchant des candidats aux finances solides, et d’une stratégie en politique culturelle cherchant à améliorer la promotion et la distribution de pro- duits culturels canadiens. Chacun de ces éléments allait mener à un seul point de convergence : le « besoin » d’un radiodiffuseur national de vidéos musique. MuchMusic, English Canada’s national music video service, made its debut on September 1, 1984, with six hours of original programming. Most of the videos offered on the first day consisted of heavy-rotation singles from Van Halen, the Cars, Elvis Costello, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. However, the station also featured works by Canadian artists, including the world premiere of the Spoons’ “Tell No Lies” (Fraser, 1984, p. E7). Originally available exclusively to pay-tele- vision subscribers, the station has become part of many basic cable packages in Ira Wagman is a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Communication at McGill University, 853 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, PQ H3A 2T6. Email: [email protected] Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 26 (2001) 47-518 ©2001 Canadian Journal of Communication Corporation 47 48 Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 26 (4) English Canada and has expanded, adding an additional English-language music service (MuchMoreMusic); two French language services (MusiquePlus and MusiMax); and international operations in Argentina (MuchaMusica); Finland (Jyrki); and the United States (MuchMusic USA). MuchMusic has also achieved a position of considerable influence as a promotional “gatekeeper” (Hirsch, 1972), facilitating or frustrating the exposure of new musicians and contributing to “the embedding of music within complex layers of discourse about music, sur- rounding it with performer gossip, concert news and other information” (Straw, 1996, p. 109). It has even incorporated a public-service philosophy into some of its program content, seen through its coverage of federal elections.2 Together, these elements make MuchMusic arguably one of Canada’s most successful media properties both domestically and abroad. In spite of this, academic treatment of MuchMusic is scant. Although it is not the purpose of this paper to speculate as to why this is the case,3 it is important to point out that scholarly discussions of MuchMusic have been relegated to passing references in articles on the Canadian sound recording industry (Straw, 1994, 1996) along with a few entries in the 1992 edition of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (Miller, 1992, pp. 895, 914-915).4 This is compared to the extensive body of work dealing with the American music video channel, MTV (Aufderheide, 1986; Banks, 1996; Baxter et al., 1985; Brown & Campbell, 1986; Denisoff, 1988; Goodwin, 1992, 1993; Gow, 1990; Kaplan, 1987). Its relative neglect is unfortunate, for MuchMusic’s strategic location, at the intersection of various communications media and industries, makes it a rich object of study. In his discussion of the Canadian film industry, Ted Magder argued that “the history of cultural policy with respect to the cultural industries— and in particular its feature film policy—must be understood within the context of imperialism, but also within the context of domestic social relations and polit- ical conflicts” (1993, p. 18). I believe this perspective can be extended to an anal- ysis of MuchMusic. Like radio, MuchMusic draws upon the productive output of another player within the cultural sector, the sound recording industry. Firms within Canada’s music- and video-production sector, (the branch plants of multi- national media conglomerates, industry lobby groups, cultural bureaucrats, and the federal broadcast regulator) have all interacted in ways that have shaped the operations and successes (or failures) of the music video channel. Beginning with the station’s slogan, “The Nation’s Music Station,” we can pose a number of questions: When and why was it decided that Canada needed a national music video service? Who decided this was necessary? How did Much- Music earn the right to fulfill this need? The answers to these questions can be found by examining the interrelationships between the Canadian sound recording industry and Canadian cultural policy between 1979 and 1984. An analysis of this time period will reveal important clues not only as to major shifts in Canadian cul- tural policy, but also with regard to the curious position of the English Canadian sound recording industry within Canada’s media ecosystem. Wagman / Development of English Canadian Music Video Programming 49 With the 1982 release of the Report of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, co-chaired by Louis Applebaum and Jacques Hébert, government policy toward the cultural realm began to emphasize the marketing and distribu- tion of Canadian cultural products both domestically and in the international mar- ketplace. Included within that discussion was the sound recording industry, a sector that had been largely ignored within cultural policy discourse. To provide justification for additional support of the sound recording industry, the authors of the Applebaum-Hébert report utilized a combination of imagery and rhetoric that closely aligned the sound recording industry with other cultural industry sectors that had garnered government support. The inclusion of sound recording within the context of a larger governmental emphasis on the marketing and distribution of cultural products was welcome news to an industry suffering through a period of decreased sales and fractured relationships with radio, its key promotional channel. With the tremendous success of American broadcaster MTV in promoting new musical talent, the English Canadian sound recording industry saw a music video channel as a life- line, one not dissimilar to the Canadian content regulations enacted in 1970. The prospects, then, for a national music video service represented the solution both for Canadian cultural policymakers and for the Canadian sound recording industry. The successful applicant for the music video service would not only have to satisfy these demands, but would also have to demonstrate solid financial footing for a broadcast regulator still reeling from the disastrous results stemming from Canada’s first experience with pay television. It is within this context that the application for MuchMusic put forward by Toronto-based broadcaster CHUM Limited emerged as the most viable candidate for the national music video ser- vice. Sound recording, Canadian cultural policy, and the music video On May 4, 1983, the CRTC called for applications for new specialty television licences that would be available to subscribers on a discretionary basis. The request for proposals marked the second phase of pay television and came three months after the initial round of pay-television licences went on the air. Within a year, the broadcast lives of the C Channel, TVEC (available in Quebec), and Super Channel were cut short, leaving only First Choice to survive due to a last-minute bailout by the CRTC (Raboy, 1990, p. 276). The reasons for the failure of these pay-television services are many, but the combination of unimaginative program content (mainly Hollywood feature films on First Choice and Super Channel) and a lack of subscriber demand are often cited as important factors.5 To avoid repeating the embarrassing situation from the first experience with pay television, the CRTC’s call for specialty program services stressed that pro- spective entrants to the broadcasting landscape would not jeopardize the opera- tions of existing broadcasters. In its “definition and nature of specialty programming services,” the CRTC outlined its interest in narrowcast television programming “designed to reflect the particular interests and needs of different age, language, cultural, geographic, or other groups” (CRTC, 1983, p. 4444). 50 Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 26 (4) These services might comprise such theme programming as news, sports, health and medical awareness, multicultural,